‘She’s SO in love with herself…’ – the 8 surprising side effects of practicing self love

Falling in love is a wonderful thing. You notice all the quirky, funny and endearing things about a person. You actively try to make them happy just so you can see the smile that you love so much. You want to see the best things in the world happen to them, and you do whatever you can to treat them as well as possible.

Falling in love with yourself is the epitome of peace. Far from being conceited or stuck up, it is one of the greatest achievements we can hope to experience. And, once you commit to the journey of practicing self love, there are some incredible side effects:

You suddenly are able to find the time, and then enjoy, exercising. Rather than being a punishment for eating that packet of m&ms, or a 30 min jog-slog where you think about how much your belly is wobbling and how yoga pants are NOT designed for your ass…. Suddenly working out is a peaceful experience. You hear your own thoughts, you focus on your own breath. You are amazed at what your body is capable of, and you love it even more for its power.

You have the clarity and strength to recognise negativity, and to gently let it go. You naturally find yourself starting to spend less time with those people you always sorta knew were bad for you, and you start engaging in conversations with people like the old lady with the purple hair at your favourite cafe instead. You seek people who make your soul happy, and gradually move away from the people who don’t.

You start getting a good nights sleep. The weight of the world lifts from your shoulders, and you peacefully drift off to pleasant thoughts about your day, your job, your life. You recognise stress as it comes, and you remind yourself that you can think about that tomorrow. Another benefit – waking up becomes easier, because you start to genuinely like the person you are waking up to be.

No more bad hair days. I mean this one. Sure, sometimes you still think ‘hmm, probably should have washed it rather than relying on dry shampoo again’ but the moment you think that, you realise how trivial that is, throw your hair into a bun and think ‘yup, I can totally rock this instead’ Likewise, when you spot a zit it does not change the way you feel about yourself at all. Having a flawless complexion is not what your self worth is based on.

You forgive yourself. You can have that second (or third) glass of wine on a bad day and not feel like you’re somehow failing as an adult or making terrible life choices. You order pizza for dinner and genuinely enjoy it without mentally counting the calories. You can choose to sleep until noon on a Saturday, and wake up loving a life that allows you such luxuries. Your life is your own, and you are suddenly a living it to make yourself happy – without giving a fuck what society and your Instagram followers may think.

You stop caring so much when he doesn’t text you back. You notice it, and think ‘what a waste, he seemed great’ and then you get on with things. You realise how important you are, and how worthy you are of love. After all, you now know how great it feels to be loved by you – you won’t waste that on anyone who can’t return the favour.

Your dreams become goals. When you are standing in your own corner, cheering for yourself, you start to think of all the reasons why you CAN climb Everest one day, or buy a corvette, or get that promotion. Because you’re not seeking to fill some self-love deficit in your life, you are completely happy for these things to take time. But you have complete faith that you will make them happen.

You start to forget what lonely feels like. You enjoy time alone with your thoughts, you’re happy to read a book or watch Netflix, laughing crazily to yourself. You take the time to call old friends, and you make plans because you genuinely want to spend time with these people, not because you don’t want to spend time by yourself.

Self-love is not an easy thing to achieve in a society that profits from our insecurities. But if you have the patience and the commitment to treat yourself like you would treat your best friend – it can be one of the most rewarding journeys you can take.